Electronic organ arpeggio effect device



Dec. 12, 1967 i A. c. YOUNG 3,358,070

ELECTRONIC ORGAN ARPEGGIO EFFECT DEVICE Filed Dec. 5, 1964 f2 Wi fZ gUnited States Patent Ofiice 3,358,070 Patented Dec. 12, 1967 3,358,070ELECTRONIC ORGAN ARPEGGIO EFFECT DEVICE ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Anarpeggio effect device for an electronic organ employing theconventional keyboard and an arpeggio keyboard is disclosed. The deviceincludes tone generators coupled through keyer circuits to an audioamplifier. These keyer circuits are controlled by the arpeggio keyboardswitches and the conventional keyboard switches in such a manner thatonly when both the arpeggio keyboard switch and a correspondingconventional keyboard switch are closed will the keyer connect aparticular tone generator to the audio amplifier. The switches and thegenerators are so related by the circuitry that only tones unitary oroctavely harmonically related to those played on the main keyboard canbe supplied to the audio amplifier, allowing the arpeggio effect to beobtained by even those with little organ playing skill.

A modification of the device is also disclosed in which the arpeggiomanual is a continuous strip of flexible material overlying a pluralityof switches rather than separate keys. One or more of the switches areclosed by depressing a segment of the strip. Thus, different tones areproduced by depressing different areas of the strip.

This invention relates to electrical musical instruments of the keyboardtype, organs for instance. More particularly it relates to anorganization within or adapted to be used in conjunction with anelectric organ for the purpose of producing an arpeggio effect so easilyas to be substantially automatic, although still under the precisecontrol of the organist.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a novel andcomparatively simple mechanism and organization within an electric organfor the purpose of simplifying the playing of arpeggios.

Another object is to provide a novel arpeggio device which permits theplaying of rapid arpeggios while at the same time eliminating thepossibility of error.

Still another object is to provide a novel device of this characterwhich permits the playing of various types of arpeggios withoutdifiiculty.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of this invention.

Arpeggios are normally played by a rapid right hand manipulation of theplaying keys so as to-sound notes in succession which will harmonizewith the chord being held by the left hand, and usually this isaccomplished with the organ arranged to give a percussive response.Although other effects can of course be achieved, a typi cal arpeggio isproduced when there is a rapid playing with the right hand of notes insuccession which are the same notes as those forming the chord beingheld by the left lgnd, although the octave of the response may bedifferent such that the arpeggio may in fact run over two or threeoctaves, the organ being so conditioned that the notes being played inthe arpeggio will have a harp or hell effect. Playing of such arpeggiosis difiicult for most people because false notes may be struck, andthere is a limit to the speed at which the arpeggio can be played, and,for some organists at least, the preferred playing speed exceeds theirskill.

The present invention permits the playing of an arpeggio as described,without requiring any particular skill, and furthermore, an arpeggio canbe played extremely rapidly.

In the drawings, in which similar characters of refer ence refer tosimilar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the two basic keyboards of anorgan as seen from the end of the keyboards, with the playing orkeyboard portion of the arpeggio device shown in one position it mayassume, the hands of the musician being indicated so as to show onemanner of playing;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of similar to FIG. 1 except thatit shows an alternative position for the arpeggio keyboard;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, butshowing still another location for the arpeggio keyboard;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic top view of the upper keyboard of an organ withthe arpeggio device shown in place according to the organization asillustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fractional perspective view showing a detail of the arpeggiodevice keyboard;

FIG. 6 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the arpeggiokeyboard and may be considered as taken substantially along the line 6-6of FIG. 5 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the electrical circuitry involved;

FIG. 8, is a schematic representation of an alternative chime systemincorporating the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic transverse section illustrating an alternativefor the keyboard of FIGS. 5 and 6.

In an organ it is common practice to supply a signal generating systemin one form or another such that the generators act as sources toprovide electrical equivalents of tone signals for all of the notes tobe played upon an organ of any particular design. Such a generatingsystem, therefore, needs no special description, since it may betypical, and it is simply indicated in FIG. 7 of the drawings by therectangular strip 10. The outputs for the various tone signal electricalequivalents provided by the generator system are indicated by the leads12, and each of these leads has a connected keyer, they being indicatedcollectively by the strip 14. These keyers also need no particulardescription, since their construction and use is well understood, andmany types are available. In generall, a keyer may be any arrangementinterposed between a generator output lead 12 and the organ outputsystem, a portion of which is indicated at 16, which normally has theeffect of initially interrupting the connection between the generatorand the output. When supplied with a DC. potential, however, anyparticular keyer so energized will establish a connection between itsgenerator and the organ output, and will provide an appropriate attackand decay character to the signal so as to give the desired percussiveeffect. Thus, when a keyer is energized, the result is to sound its noteabruptly at a comparatively high level, and subsequently to cause theintensity of the signal to decay. The eifect, therefore, is much like abell being sharply struck and ringing on a bit, with a gradual intensitydecline. As mentioned previously, the outputs from the group of keyersis collected and connected to the output system indicated generally bythe box 16 and the speaker 18. This output system will contain thenecessary amplifiers, together with any desired tone controls, formantcircuits, volume level control, and the like, the particular selectionbeing largely an option of the designer.

As a starting point, therefore, it is assumed without specialdescription that the construction and operation of signal generator-s,keyers, and output systems are understood, and the detail descriptionwhich follows is therefore concerned with the manner of energizing theDC. keyers so that they produce a percussive response of a harp orbell-like quality.

Re erring o FI 4 f. he awin s, he upperkeyboard of an organ is shown at26, and directly in front of t liS keyboard is mounted the arpeggiodevice keyboard 22 which will be di us e n grea er d t pr t As shown inFIG. 1, this arpeggio keyboard 22 is arranged above and at the back ofthe lower keyboard 24 s ha a ny p t ular m hile he owe key ar is beingplayed by the left hand 26, the right hand 28 can play upon the upperkeyboard 20 and still the musician can touch the arpeggio keyboard 22with the thumb of the right hand 28 in a convenient manner. In FIG. 2much the same arrangement is achieved except that the arpeggio keyboard30; has been placed upon the fall board between the upper and lowerkeyboards, still within reach of the right thumb. In FIG. 3 the arpeggiokeyboard 32 has been placed behind the keys of the upper keyboard whereit can be reached by one of the fingers of the right hand. In any event,these various locations for the arpeggio keyboard are simplysuggestions. Probably the preference will be for the arrangement of FIG.1, and this figure therefore forms the basis for FIGS. 4, 5, and 6.

Since it may be. desired to have the arpeggio keyboard in differentpositions along the main keyboard, depending upon where the right handis playing, the keyboard 22 can be made to slide along the keyboard, forinstance, to the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, this dottedline position being indicated by the numeral 34. If desired, of course,two arpeggio keyboards may be used in end-.to-end relationship and fixedin position, the two keyboards being identical and simply wired inparallel so that either one serves the full function of the other.

The arpeggio keyboard indicated by the numeral 22 consists in theembodiment shown of a long, generally triangular, case 36' which may beattached at its back to a rail 38 in a convenient location in suchmanner that the interengaging connections 40 and 42 between the case andthe rail permit the case to be slid along the organ keyboard 20 to adesired position. The connections, however, prevent any other relativemovement between these elements. The case has a longitudinally extendingrod 44 which serves to pivot a plurality of playing keys 46 inside-by-side relationship. These keys are lightly urged upwardly attheir front ends by springs 45 or equivalent means. They are thecounterparts of the keys of the main keyboard, and they may be coloredto so indicate, although they may be all ofone color if desired. Thesearpeggio keys, unlike the ordinary organ playing keys, are very small;that is, in a typical example, the arpeggio playing keys may be about /2long and about A wide and spaced on centers of or so; enough to provideclearance between them. The edges of the keys are heavily rounded sothat a finger canbe slid along the keyboard to depress keys insuccession without difficulty.

The case 36 also contains twelve parallel bus bars 4.8 which extendlongitudinally of the case from end-to-end. A contact member 50 iscarried by each of the playing keys 46, and these contacts on successivekeys are arranged in order such that when one key is depressed, itscontact 50 will, for instance, engage the. topmost bus bar 48. The esuccessive k y contact 50 nga es he next su cessi e bus bar, and so on.After the twelfth key, the series repeats with the thirteenth engagingthe first bar 48, as. seen in FIG. 7,. Other arrangements coul b used,but the one suggested c n nient Th o al rave of. h key h u d be small,but preferably the contacts 50. should be slightly sp l gy r so t n acion to g ve s m cv tra l of he keys after contact has been made betweenelements 50 and In addition to the arpeggio keyboard just described, themain organ lower keyboard toward the left hand or bass and has anadditional contact for each of the organ playing keys, these additionalcontacts being indicated at 52 and covering a compass of three octavesin the illustrated example. These contacts all operate in conjunctionwith a grounded bus bar 54. Thus when any one of the playing keys towardthe left hand end of the lower keyboard, for a matter of three octaves,is depressed, this act will ground the particular playing keys contact52.

The contacts 5.2 are connected to the bus bars 48 as shown, such that,beginning at a particular point on the keyboard, a contact 52 isconnected to one of the bus bars 48. The next adjacent contact 52 isconnected to the next adjacent bus bar 48, and so on, until twelve ofthe contacts 52 in succession have been connected to the twelve bus barsin succession. The next adjacent key contact 52- that is, the 13th-isconnected to the first of the bus bars mentioned, and the seriesrepeats. If the contacts 52 are provided for three octaves of keys asshown, all three of the C keys, for instance, will be connected to thesame bus bar 48, and all three Cit contacts 52 to the next adjacent bar48, and so on, so that playing any one of the C keys within the threeoctave range of the contacts 52 will have the effect of grounding thesame bus bar 48. If, for instance, the chord C-E-G is held, the threebars 48 representing the notes CE-G will be grounded regardless of whatparticular combination of keys producing (LE-G is played upon the lowerkeyboard by the left hand.

The contacts 50. of the arpeggio keysv 46 are connected individually asshown in series to the keyers 14, the other side of the control circuitfor the keyers being represented by the terminal 56. These connectionsare such that three C keys in the arpeggio keyboard have contacts 50which g g a mutu bus bar 3 which. is c nected to the hre n ac s 2 at, int r ar c u ed y h hree C y f h rgan. low r m ua n s n- Fr r the above tw ll be se n. that if any ower m a C key ithin. th ree oct ve rang splay d. with th left hand, ll. th e of the C keys in h rp ggio device.will hav th ir bus bar 8 gro nded- If ne of th C key f the rpeggio deice is. new playe h appropria e one of the C kcy s w ll a t supply it pec s i e note to the ou p system. On the other hand, if while the same Ckey is being held by the left hand a diiferent one of the C keys fv hearpcggio keyboard s playe a d f eren n will b suppl ed o h utp yst m Ths h arn ggiq k yb s mpl ly inert, xc pt ha it is on ti n d to play C inthree different octaves, depending, upon which of h arpeggio k y oard Ckey s p ayed-" er the ndi ons a finger be sw p r p dly alo g he a p sg ckeyboard o as t depres a v f t e rpcggio key in ic cessicn. and the re pse at. e u pu is mp y three octavely related C ch me tones,

If, instead of the simple example given above, it is ssu ed hat the l fh nd s holding chcrd flE G f ins ance t en he C E G bus ba s 8 w ll; beg nded with the result that as a finger is swept the full length al ngthe arp ss o keyboa d f om le t o r ght,v t ha p l sound .=G' O=E.= E GPro re siv cale, a d. noth ng els I .1 a o be appr ciated hat sin e h ap gg okeysare only bo t W W d a. shor w p t he fi ge il ha the ef ect ofprodu ng harp o h ll, or ike n te s se ec ed, n xtr mely rapid su sicn-Fur her e, since he scys are o. nar ow, hen a um r finge s pr d upon h apesgie keyboard; it will a h eli ct o pre ng, o n e er l keys smultaneously, since, the thumbv or finger flattens against the keys andalso because the flexible contact springs 50; permit s me c cr cl. heresu f is a i a, chor s being held by the left hand and the thumb merelytaps the arpeggio keyboard, it is certain that at least one'harp or hellnote will sound, and no matter how careless the player is in positioninghis thumb upon the arpeggio key? board, the tone sounded will fit thechord being held by the left hand. As an example, as the chord Q-B-G isbeing held, placing the thumb on the arpeggio keyboard and simplypressing downwardly will have the effect of producing a harp or belltone, and the only tones that can thus be produced are C or E or G inone of three octaves.

The important thing, therefore, is that no matter which direction thearpeggio keyboard is swept, or whether it is swept slow or fast, orrepeatedly in one direction, or back and forth, or whether it is merelytapped, there will be some tonal response, and the response will alwaysfit the chord being held by the left hand. It is, therefore, notpossible to get a false response from the arpeggio keyboard so long asthe chord being held by the left hand is something that is appropriateto the music. Even a small child can play upon the arpeggio keyboardalong with a person who is-playing the organ and add to the musicalresponse without the possibility of a mistake.

For convenience, in the arpeggio keyboard, the electrical leadsconnected to the bus bars 48 and to the contacts 50 are cabled, as at58, and pass through a slot 60 in the panel 38 so that they do notinterfere with limited longitudinal movement of the arpeggio keyboard.

The drawings show three octaves of arpeggio keys 46 and three octaves ofcontrol keys 24 having contacts 52, but of course more or less of eithercan be provided at the option of the designer. It will also beappreciated that although harp or bell type tones have been used as anexample in the above description, the invention is not limited to such atonal response, since tones having different harmonic content anddifferent envelopes may be substituted.

In fact, although generators and keyers have been suggested as thesource of the chime tones, and are preferred, the familiar chimemechanism which strikes any of several metal bars when appropriateelectromagnets are energized may be substituted. In this case, as isshown in FIG. 8, the chime bar 60 is struck by a plunger 62 when anelectromagnet 64 is energized, the plunger then being returned by aspring 66. The electromagnet 64 is energized from the source 68 by wayof contact 50, bus 48, contact 52, and bus 54 in series as illustratedin FIG. 7.

If desired, of course, generator tones can be connected to the outputsystem with this arpeggio arrangement by contacts instead of by keyersas shown, although, as a rule, they are not as musically effective asthe percussion tones suggested above.

The miniature keys used for the arpeggio keyboard, much as shown inFIGS. and 6, are probably preferable, but other arrangements may beused. For instance, in FIG. 9 a very simple low-cost scheme is shown.Here a plastic tray 70 contains a strip of pliable foam plastic 72 whichis thicker at one side to form a step. This strip runs longitudinallyand has sets of contact blades arranged transversely on the steps sothat blade 74 is below blade 7 6 for instance. A set of these contactsis provide-d for each arpeggio key. They are on about Ms" centers andare the counterparts of contacts 48 and 50 of FIG. 7. The contacts arecovered by a strip of flexible, smooth, heavy plastic film 78, and thus,as a finger is run along the top surface of the film 78, the contacts 76are pressed downwardly progressively to engage contacts 74. After thefinger passes, the contacts are separated by the sponge cushion 72.Because of the resilient cushion 72, it is possible to close severalsets of these contacts simultaneously as the finger makes a roundeddepression in the plastic film 78 and cushion 72.

In the arpeggio system as described above, the use of a miniaturekeyboard or close together control contacts has been suggested, sincesuch an arrangement is believed to be preferable for reasons which havebeen given. The arpeggio keyboard can, of course, be of any convenientsize and in any convenient location. As an example, it can be providedat or near floor level where it can be actuated by the right foot of themusician if this seems convenient. In any case, the basic arrangement isthe same in that only the keys in the arpeggio keyboard which correspondto notes being held in a main keyboard will play, the other keys beingdead.

From the above description it will be appreciated that variations can bemade in the structures and circuits without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention, and that the scope of the invention is to bemeasured from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In an electrical musical instrument, an output system, a plurality ofsignal sources for supplying tone signals of the musical scale over arange of more than one octave, and means adapted when actuated forselectively connecting the sources to the output system, said connectingmeans comprising: a first keyboard of more than one octave having a keytherein for each of said sources, a main keyboard of more than oneoctave having play ing keys of substantially standard size, and circuitmeans including contacts actuated by keys of the first said keyboard andcontacts actuated by said standard size keys and connected for actuatinga signal source connecting means when the corresponding key of the firstsaid keyboard for the source is actuated and contemporaneously thecorresponding unison key or an octavely related key in the main keyboardis actuated, with said first and said main keyboards being positioned sothat both may be easily played contemporaneously by an average player.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 in which the keys of the saidfirst keyboard have a width of not substantially more than one-eighthinch.

3. In an electrical organ, an output system, a plurality of signalsources for supplying tone signals of the musical scale over a range ofmore than one octave, and means adapted when actuated for selectivelyconnecting the sources to the output system, said connecting meanscomprising: a side-by-side arrangement of manually actuatable contacts,one for each source, covering a range of more than one octave, othermanually actuatable means for selecting a chord to be played, andcircuit means including said contacts and said other actuatable meansand connected for actuating a signal source connecting means when thecorresponding first said contact for the source .is actuated andcontemporaneously the other actuatable means is actuated to play aunison tone or an octavely related tone, with said side-by-sidearrangement of manually actuatable contacts and said other manuallyactuatable means being disposed so as to be simultaneously and easilyactuatable by a single average player.

4. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the side-by-sidecontacts are spaced on centers not substantially greater than one-eighthinch.

5. In an electrical organ, percussive sound producing mechanism adaptedto produce individual percussive sounds over a range of more than oneoctave of the musical scale when individual elements thereof are selectively activated, and means adapted when actuated for selectivelyactivating said elements, said means comprising, a miniature keyboard ofmore than one octave having a miniature key therein for each of saidelements, a main keyboard of more than one octave having playing keys ofsubstantially standard size, and circuit means including contactsactuated by said miniature keys and contacts actuated by said standardsize keys and connected for activating a selected element When thecorresponding miniature key is actuated and contemporaneously thecorresponding unison key or an octavely related key in the main keyboardis actuated, but not otherwise, and with said miniature keyboard andsaid main keyboard being positioned so as to be easily contemporaneouslyactuated by a single average player.

6. The combination called for in claim 5 in which the keys of theminiature keyboard have a width of not substantially more thanone-eighth inch.

7. In an electrical organ, an output system, a plurality of signalsources for supplying tone signals of the musical scale, and meansadapted when actuated for selectively connecting the sources to theoutput system, said connecting means comprising: a side-by-sidearrangement of close together manually actuatable contacts, one for eachsource, a main keyboard having playing keys of substantially standardsize, one for each source, and circuit means including said contacts andcontacts actuated by said standard size keys and connected for actuatinga signal source connecting means when the corresponding first saidcontact for the source is actuated and contemporaneously thecorresponding key in the main keyboard is actuated, said side-by-sidearrangement of close together manually actuatable contacts and said mainkeyboard being positioned so that one player may manually play bothcontemporaneously.

8. The combination called for in claim 7 in which the side-by-sidecontacts are spaced on centers not substantially greater than one-eighthinch.

9'. In an electrical organ, sound producing mechanism adapted to produceindividual tones of the musical scale when elements thereof areselectively activated, and means adapted when actuated for selectivelyactivating said elements, said means comprising, a side-by-sidearrangement of close together manually actuatable contacts, one for eachof said elements, a main keyboard having playing keys of substantiallystandard size, and circuit means ineluding said contacts and contactsactuated by said standard size keys and connected for activatingselected ele ments only when the corresponding first said contact isactuated and contemporaneously corresponding keys in the main keyboardare actuated, said side-by-side arrangement of close together manuallyactuatable contacts and said main keyboard both being positioned so thatboth may be contemporaneously manually actuated .by a player.

10. The combination called for in claim 9 in which the side-by-sidecontacts are spaced on centers not substantially greater than one-eighthinch.

11. In an electrical organ, percussive sound producing mechanism adaptedto produce individual percussive tones or" the musical scale whenindividual elements thereof are selectively activated, and means adaptedwhen actuated for selectively activating said elements, said meanscomprising, a miniature keyboard having a miniature key therein for eachof said elements, a main keyboard having playing keys of substantiallystandard size, and circuit means including contacts actuated by saidminiature keys and contacts actuated by said standard size keys andconnected for activating a selected element only when the correspondingminiature key is actuated and contemporaneously a corresponding key inthe main keyboard is actuated, said miniature keyboard and said mainkeyboard being positioned so that both may be contemporaneously manuallyactuated by a player.

12. The combination called for in claim 11 in which the keys of theminiature keyboard have a width of not substantially more thanone-eighth inch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,054,318 9/1962 Koehl 841.173,227,027 1/1966 Von Gunten 84-.1.17 X

ARTHUR GAUSS, Primary Examiner. DONALD D. FORRER, Examiner.

1. IN AN ELECTRICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, AN OUTPUT SYSTEM, A PLURALITY OFSIGNAL SOURCES FOR SUPPLYING TONE SIGNALS OF THE MUSICAL SCALE OVER ARANGE OF MORE THAN ONE OCTAVE, AND MEANS ADAPTED WHEN ACTUATED FORSELECTIVELY CONNECTING THE SOURCES TO THE OUTPUT SYSTEM, SAID CONNECTINGMEANS COMPRISING: A FIRST KEYBOARD OF MORE THAN ONE OCTAVE HAVING A KEYTHEREIN FOR EACH OF SAID SOURCES, A MAIN KEYBOARD OF MORE THAN ONEOCTAVE HAVING PLAYING KEYS OF SUBSTANTIALLY STANDARD SIZE, AND CIRCUITMEANS INCLUDING CONTACTS ACTUATED BY KEYS OF THE FIRST SAID KEYBOARD ANDCONTACTS ACTUATED BY SAID STANDARD SIZE KEYS AND CONNECTED FOR ACTUATINGA SIGNAL SOURCE CONNECTING MEANS WHEN THE CORRESPONDING KEY OF THE FIRSTSAID KEYBOARD FOR THE SOURCE IS ACTUATED AND CONTEMPORANEOUSLY THECORRESPONDING UNISON KEY OR AN OCTAVELY RELATED KEY IN THE MAIN KEYBOARDIS ACTUATED, WITH SAID FIRST AND SAID MAIN KEYBOARDS BEING POSITIONED SOTHAT BOTH MAY BE EASILY PLAYED CONTEMPORANEOUSLY BY AN AVERAGE PLAYER.